BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS

Mandatory hair tests for alcohol abuse

'We want to intervene in the lives of kids who are drinking a lot'

Published: 08/05/2013 at 12:23 PM

(DAILYHERALD) — St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights will begin randomly testing all students for alcohol consumption starting this fall, adding to the school’s drug testing policy that has been in place since 2007, officials said.

The mandatory tests will show how much alcohol a student has consumed in the past 90 days, said Paige Wiser, the school’s director of communications.

The Rev. Corey Brost, school president, said “the consumption of alcohol by teenagers has been a concern for many years.”

“We are a Catholic school. It’s our goal to help our young people grow spiritually, emotionally, psychologically and physically, but alcohol impedes growth in all of those areas,” he added. “We want to intervene in the lives of kids who are drinking a lot or starting to experiment with alcohol.”